Hailing from the ever-fertile Finnish black metal scene, MOONFALL's origins date back to 2008. The duo released one demo in 2010, Ad Majorem Sathanae Gloriam, before disbanding the next year. The band reactivated in 2020 and released a demo, with a split with Regere Sinister the following year.

However, this duo - Goatprayer and Black Moon Necromancer, both of whom handle multiple instruments depending on the recording - have been insanely prolific together, currently playing in the esteemed Witchcraft as well as other such cults as Necromonarchia Daemonum, Funerealm Gloom, Darkera, and Infernathan. Even separately, both men are notable: among many others, Goatprayer maintains the monolithic CEREMONIAL TORTURE while Black Moon Necromancer currently plays guitar for the legendary Beherit.

Still, MOONFALL have yet to release a full-length display of their dark, defiant powers...until now. Fittingly titled Odes to the Ritual Hills, MOONFALL's LONG-awaited debut album encapsulates their ancient aesthetic whilst pushing it to more-depraved depths. With all the bands both Finns number between them, some sonic traits remain consistent - utterly gutsfucking bass, sewer-drenched vokills, an ominously lumbering gait, a wholesale defiance of modern "black metal" or even "doom" tropes - and some influences, such as old Necromantia and Barathrum as well Greece's Lemegethon and Colombia's Nebiros, figure prominently. And as tempting as it is to liken MOONFALL as an aesthetic counterpart to the mighty CEREMONIAL TORTURE, Odes to the Ritual Hills proves that the duo are digging their own, absolutely ancient earth.

The album as a whole comprises four songs across nearly a half-hour, with two songs at ten minutes each; its song sequence is such that atmosphere is incredibly heightened, akin to a moonlit walk across misty moors. Of course, burly bass GUITAR guides these mystical journeys with an insistent, almost-sexual throb - some could point to domestic underground deviants Ride for Revenge here - but the vintage synths, sensually swirling with their own dark magick, really put MOONFALL in rarefied territory. That Odes to the Ritual Hills is bookended by two shorter, all-synth instrumentals does NOT undersell the album's intrinsic power; in fact, their strategic placement is integral to the record's all-engrossing journey.

With these Odes to the Ritual Hills, MOONFALL have at last returned from the darkest past with the year's truly OLDEST record.